One type of blind which has enjoyed substantial, and increasing, commercial acceptance in recent years is made of a plurality of metal or vinyl slats, usually about an inch in width and often slightly curved, which are vertically suspended, one above the other, on ladders, which are composed of a plurality of links or rings which extend between and are connected to vertical side frame members. By appropriate hand pressure applied to ladder cords associated with the ladders and a tilting mechanism, it is possible to raise and lower the mini blind and to change the angle of tilt of the individual slats to accommodate the angle of incidence of the sun or for purposes of privacy or other reasons. Although standard lengths which are designed to fit properly in standard width windows are available, a large percentage of such blinds must be made to measure in the sense that the window size is not of a standard width, and hence the so-called standard width blinds are either too narrow or too wide for the window in a horizontal direction. If the blind is too wide, it is inoperative for its intended purpose, which is to fit flush within the window frame opening. If the blind is too narrow, it is aesthetically unpleasing to the eye and poorly functional in that light may enter the room at the edges. At this writing, the provision of a mini blind for a non-standard width window frame is a costly and lengthy process which is often accompanied by substantial inconvenience to the home dweller who seeks to install such a blind in his home.
Typically, in order to obtain such a properly sized blind (hereafter, sometimes called a "customized" blind), the home dweller must visit a specialty blind store which offers blind customizing services, and select a blind of the proper color and length, sometimes referred to as the "drop" or height Such blinds come in a few stock widths and, consequently, a width is selected which is slightly wider than the required width If the stock size, which is just slightly wider than the required width, is unavailable, the next largest blind must be selected, thereby adding to the cost.
Following the selection process at the specialty store, or at a specialty department within a larger store, an appointment is made and store personnel visit the home of the purchaser and take exact measurements of the width of the window frame.
Thereafter the store personnel who took the measurements returns to the store The blind is thereafter sized at a convenient time--which may be a considerable time after the measurements are taken in the home. Many times, other personnel do the actual customizing, as when the retail store sends the order to a factory or other central location which services a number of retail establishments, and hence the possibility of error, because of the participation of multiple people, increases.
There is no standard or even widely used procedure or equipment for performing the sizing task, and many of the people which are involved in sizing blinds have a rather high level of operator skill. Such skilled personnel are frequently both difficult to find by the retail and sizing establishment, which, as mentioned above, may be two different businesses, and difficult to retain in employment.
After sizing, the home dweller is almost invariably contacted to arrange a convenient time for the store personnel to obtain entrance to the home to install the blind. Thereafter, a second visit is made to the home at which time store personnel installs the previously customized blind. Sometimes, of course, the blind may be shipped directly from the sizing establishment to the purchaser.
If the customer has not previously paid for the blind and, in most instances, only a portion of the price, at most, will have been advanced by the purchaser, the purchaser is thereafter billed for the outstanding balance. The retail merchant thereby assumes the risk of delayed payment or a bad debt.
The cost to the consumer of the current mode of merchandising mini blinds can be illustrated as follows.
If, for example, a thirty-seven inch blind is required by the home dweller, the cost of the blind and labor as above described, at the time of this writing, including visitation to the home, can range from $100 to $200. Had the window required only a thirty-six inch wide blind, the home dweller might have been able to buy one of the standard stock sizes which can often be purchased, on a special, loss leader sale basis, for as low as approximately $8 on up to $20. In other words the extra inch of blind width required to properly fit the thirty-seven inch window may cost the home dweller between about $90 to $190 more than a stock size blind of almost the same width costs.
It is thus apparent that there has been lacking a means for providing a mini blind of non-standard size (which is believed to represent the great majority of possible mini blind applications) at a reasonable cost and in a convenient manner.